Saratoga Springs First Night set to take center stage

Derick Borst, audio technician with High Peaks Sound, tweaks the lighting on the Saratoga City Center main stage, which will host Beatles tribute band Hey Jude and Soul Session during First Night festivities.
ERICA MILLER — THE SARATOGIAN

SARATOGA SPRINGS >> Thousands of people will flock to Spa City Dec. 31 for the city’s acclaimed tradition of ringing in the New Year with its First Night celebration, which this year boasts a record-breaking number of performances.

The 2014 First Night theme is “Color Me” and will feature 78 performing acts in 37 venues at 23 locations throughout the downtown.

Although the citywide event is only one night, it’s a year-long undertaking for Joel Reed, executive director of Saratoga Arts, which organizes the festivities, and his volunteers and staff.

Dozens of businesses and nonprofits, roughly 75 volunteers and a crew of employees come together to make First Night happen.

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“It really is the community that comes together to make this happen, and present it to the broader community,” Reed said.

The broader community encompasses quite a range, Reed said, since the city usually gets visitors from western New York and downstate, Canada, Boston and plenty of other locales.

“It’s one of the things that makes Saratoga Springs such a great place to be ... even in the winter, it’s still hopping,” Reed said.

Some of the draw of First Night is the fact that almost all of the activities are indoors.

“People bundle up for the fireworks, but otherwise, people can enjoy the performances in comfort,” Reed said.

Artist Sharon Bolton has designed the majority of the First Night posters, which many people collect. This year’s design depicts a crescent moon, happily being painted by a fairy-like young woman, flanked by butterflies. It lives up to its colorful theme.

The prints are digitally executed now but were not long ago done completely by hand, although the artwork remained consistent, and have the “same feel,” no matter how they are done, according to Reed.

First Night will kick off at 5 p.m. at the Saratoga Springs City Center with a ballet performance, followed by a 5K run at 5:30 p.m. Then, at 6 p.m., performances at all venues begin.

Reed described the New Years Eve festivities as an “arc” that builds throughout the evening, culminating in the Congress Park fireworks at midnight.

Throughout the evening, CDTA will provide two free heated shuttle buses to transport attendees around the city.

By spring, Saratoga Arts will already start organizing the party for 2015.